Earthlink Wins $11 million in KSTM Spam Case

A federal judge in Atlanta awarded Earthlink $11 million in its lawsuit against KSTM LLC for sending millions of illegal mortgage related e-mail advertisements.

E-mail service provider EarthLink sued Nevada Internet marketing company KSTM for violating the CAN-SPAM Act.

Since 1996, EarthLink has sued hundreds of spammers and won more than $200 million in judgments, including two criminal convictions against spammers who received prison sentences.

According to the lawsuit, KSTM sent e-mails promoting the Web site "lmlgdnhk.info." EarthLink claimed that the company used false and misleading header information in its e-mails, which violates the CAN-SPAM Act. The Internet service provider also charged KSTM with breaking the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, the Georgia Computer Systems Protection Act and state and federal racketeering laws.

In addition to the penalty, KSTM is prohibited from engaging in conduct such as spoofing, cloaking, selling e-mail addresses and accessing or obtaining EarthLink accounts.